LATROBE, Pa. -- By all accounts, Pat Freiermuth had a successful rookie season for the Steelers.
The 2021 second-round draft pick had 60 receptions for 497 yards and seven touchdowns, despite not really becoming a full-time player until midway through the season.
Now heading into his second season there is a feeling the 23-year-old Freiermuth is set to become the next big thing at the tight end position in the NFL.
"With him, I was really impressed with his passing game skillset when he got here," Steelers tight ends coach Alfredo Roberts told me of the former Penn State star. "I had seen the tape and what he was able to do, but you only see what they had asked him to do. So, when he got here, he started doing some other things and you’re like ‘Holy crap! He can really bend and turn and contort his body and make the combative catches.’ What I think he lacked a year ago that he was able to work on this offseason because he had a repaired shoulder, so you’ll start to see a guy who will start to tap into a little bit of that grown-man strength.
"For him, it’s going to be more knowledge based, learning how to play these guys. Working off how they’re playing his tendencies. How are they working off me? How can I work off them? The game within the game is where he’s going to grow."
Freiermuth missed a week of practices here at Steelers training camp at Saint Vincent College with a hamstring issue. But he's gotten more involved again over the past two days and that has to be exciting news for the team's quarterbacks.
Ben Roethlisberger immediately fell in love with the 6-foot-5 tight end's catch radius a year ago. And as much as some of the other young pass catchers on this roster have the coaching staff excited about the future, what Freiermuth could become is right there with any of them.
"Ben decided early on he liked him," Roberts told me. "Ben liked Pat. At practice, he threw one, and he purposely threw one that was high and behind Pat. Pat went and caught it. That was all he needed to do. He started testing the kid out. After another year, I like the dynamic with this kid."
But he's got to stay on the field. A two-time team captain at Penn State, Freiermuth could help the Steelers fill the offensive leadership void left by the retirement of Roethlisberger.
Najee Harris, last year's first-round pick, is expected to help do that. So, too is quarterback Mitch Trubisky. But much like former Steelers star tight end Heath Miller, Freiermuth is viewed as that kind of player, as well.
"I think he wants to be involved, for him to be a leader. I was talking to him and I said, ‘Man, you were a two-time captain at Penn State. There’s a lot of dudes that roll through there,'" Roberts said. "When you’re talking about leading, a lot of the defensive guys wonder if he’s going to take that next step. They talk to me about it."
To that point, the time missed over the past week by both Freiermuth and Harris, who has been out more than a week with a foot injury, could be considered a setback for the Steelers, who are searching for leadership on that side of the ball.
But that can change quickly. Start making big catches or a big block, and they can step into that role that is just begging to be filled.
"When he’s involved, he feels like he can impose his leadership role. When he’s not involved, he doesn’t feel it," Roberts said. "I get it. I want you to see me and hear me, I don’t want you to just hear me. I think he has the ability. When I think of Pittsburgh, I think of Heath Miller and Freiermuth as those kind of guys."
That's high praise. Miller was announced as one of the latest inductees into the team's Hall of Honor. When that happened on the first Saturday of this training camp, fans in attendance still yelled "Heath!" when he walked out onto the practice field here at Saint Vincent College.
It hasn't taken them long to embrace Freiermuth in a similar fashion, with chants of "Muth!" when he catches the ball.
But Miller, the all-time receptions leader in team history at the position with 592, also was a complete tight end. Roberts feels Freiermuth can do that, as well.
He just hadn't been asked to do it at all at Penn State.
"I one-hundred percent agree with that. I see he can block," Roberts said. "I don’t know what (Penn State) asked him to do. I know what we’re going to ask him to do. He’s 250 pounds. He’s a kid. As he grows into it and the technique of it, you talk about grown-man strength, I think of him as more (George) Kittle than (Travis) Kelce. Kittle is an in-line guy who is really dominant at catching the football.
"I want him to have that mindset. That’s what we’ve been working on since he got here. What are you going to do with your run after (the catch)? How dominant can you be after you catch the football? You can catch the football. Are you going to make them tackle you, or are you just going to concede? It will happen more for him as he grows. And he’s an awesome dude."
• With the continued emergence of George Pickens, the Steelers have a wealth of pass catchers.
Chase Claypool has been back the past couple of days, as well, and seems to have fixed some of his issues with not using his 6-foot-4 frame to his advantage.
He did that Tuesday in Seven Shots. Working out of the slot inside of Pickens, Claypool released into the back of the end zone behind cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon, who was in a zone.
At 6-foot-2, Witherspoon thought he had things covered. But Mitch Trubisky fired a pass about 8 feet off the ground to the back of the end zone and Claypool went up and got it, contorting his body and tapping his toes down in the back of the end zone for a score.
Great throw, but even better catch.
• In red-zone drills, Trubisky dropped back to pass on the first play and let another ball go about 8 feet off the ground to the post to hit Pickens at the goal line. Pickens easily went up and snatched the ball out of the air in front of Cam Sutton, who had no chance on the play -- at least not playing behind Pickens.
But the problem becomes, if you try to play that between Trubisky and Pickens, the throw just goes over the top to the 6-foot-3 receiver.
We've also seen Freiermuth make those kind of catches last season, as well.
This passing game could actually be pretty scary.
• Seventh-round draft pick Mark Robinson, a former running back turned inside linebacker, seems to make a play in every practice -- even though he really doesn't know what he's doing yet.
Tuesday, he split a crease to get into the backfield and tackle Master Teague for a one-yard loss. He's very athletic and his skillset as a former running back shows up on plays like that. He knows how to get skinny to get through a hole into the backfield.
He's still a work in progress in pass defense, but his "see ball, get ball" mentality in the run game is impressive.
• Credit Jaylen Warren with the run of this camp thus far. In team run, he took a handoff, shot through a crease in the middle of the line, cut to his left and bolted into the secondary.
Four defensive backs finally converged and wrestled him to the ground after a 15-yard gain. He's got power and some burst.
Warren also keeps showing up in the passing game. He might not be a nuanced route-runner -- yet -- but he's shown good hands.
Warren is making this roster.
• Kevin Dotson was nowhere to be seen at practice today, so we can assume he was sent back to Pittsburgh to get his ankle looked at.
In one-on-ones, Kendrick Green started strong on a rep against Isaiahh Loudermilk, but slipped on the wet turf and Loudermilk got around him.
That elicited a response from Mike Tomlin, who was watching the one-on-ones -- as he usually does.
"C'mon KG. You had him," Tomlin yelled. "Don't let him off the hook. You're one dog, one bone."
The two went again on the next play, with Green winning the rep.
The reference was one Tomlin often has used, going back to 2010 when he would say it about Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown their rookie year.
• The Steelers were forced to move Tuesday's practice to the morning to avoid rains that hit the area in the afternoon.
So the players were having another physical practice less than 24 hours after a very physical one Monday afternoon.
But they didn't seem any worse for the wear. The hitting wasn't quite as intense as it had been Monday, but there was no room to ease into this one, either.
In fact, the first play of Seven Shots was a run by Benny Snell and Terrell Edmunds came up from his safety spot for a massive collision that stopped Snell short of the goal line.
Arthur Maulet also had a couple of nice stops in the backfield from his nickel corner spot.
Tomlin should begin to ease up on things Wednesday with a game coming up Saturday, but this camp has been about as physical as you can have a camp be in 2022.
• T.J. Watt didn't do any one-on-ones today against Chuks Okorafor. And Okorafor looked much more comfortable holding his own. But Cam Heyward took some reps against second-year left tackle Dan Moore.
Moore held up just fine against the power of Heyward, which is a good sign -- though I don't know that Heyward was putting his full rush on display.
• The Steelers have added multiple former Bears this offseason, including Trubisky and right guard James Daniels.
Why not add another in linebacker Roquan Smith? Smith has asked the Bears for a trade. It doesn't seem like he wants to stick around for what looks to be a long season in Chicago as the team rebuilds.
Imagine, if you will, Smith next to Myles Jack in the middle of the Steelers defense.
Now, Smith is making $9.735 million this season and would take up the remainder of the team's salary cap space, so the Steelers would also have to include a player or two in the deal to make it work.
So, how about Devin Bush, Claypool and a late-round pick for Smith and a little higher late-round pick?
Just spitballing here, not saying I've heard anything of that nature.
• Watt's over/under for sacks this season is 13.75 on Draft Kings. That seems low for a player who had 22.5 last season.
You might think it's low because there is a feeling he might miss time. But he had his 22.5 sacks last season while missing two full games and parts of three others.
Still, that 13.75 over/under total is the highest on the site's board, so it's not like Draft Kings is being disrespectful. It just goes to show how good Watt has been when he makes you think that him getting to 14 sacks isn't that big of a deal.
